Hudson speaks softly, and carries a BIG stick

Photo by: Wesley PopePisgah Nadia Hudson, 6, is greeted by her teammates at the plate after belting a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning.

CANTON — History has recorded former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt defining his foreign policy as, “speak softly, and carry a big stick.”Well, Nadia Hudson’s baseball philosophy must be the same as our 26th President’s foreign policy as the quiet Pisgah sophomore shortstop carried a really big stick in Friday’s NCHSAA Class 2-A West first round softball game.Hudson had a career-best, single-game performance at the plate as she belted a solo home run, a three-run homer and ripped an RBI single to propel the Black Bears to a 9-2 win over visiting Bunker Hill.“I’m just trying to do my best every time I step on the field,” said Hudson. Pisgah, which improved to 17-4-1 overall, will hosts West Lincoln in a 5 p.m. second round game at the Diamond on the River Complex on Tuesday, May 14. “Good luck if you can get two words out of Nadia,” said Pisgah Manager Cyrena Goodwin. “But we have been waiting for this from her since the season started. “Her batting average has been rising since the middle of the season and we felt she was due for a breakout game at the plate.”Stuck in a two-week hitting slump, Pisgah broke out to its old form with a 14-hit attack against Bunker Hill starter Kadi O’Shell and Anna Williams. “We’ve been working hard in practice getting our bats going again,” said Goodwin. “I’m pleased with the job the girls did at the plate. We just need to keep it going through the playoffs.”In addition to Hudson’s three hits and five RBI, junior first baseman Alex Litrico went 3-for-3 and scored two runs. Sophomore Callie Kuykendall was the winning pitcher, hurling a four-hit, five strikeout complete-game gem. Three of the hits off Kuykendall, including a two run homer by Makayla Hedrick that spotted Bunker Hill a 2-0 lead, came in the second inning during a brief rain storm.But the rain stopped in the bottom of the second just in time for Hudson’s one-out solo homer.The Black Bears tied the game at two in the third when Taylor Galyean doubled off the top of the leftfield wall and scored on Ashley Penland’s single. In the fourth, Pisgah took a 3-2 lead when Litrico scored on a throwing error by catcher Kara Travis. But it was in the fifth when Pisgah’s bat broke open the game with four runs on five hits) Kuykendall coaxed a one-out walk and Shelby Tomassi doubled before Hudson drove both her teammates in with a three-run home run over the centerfield wall. Litrico followed with a single, went to third on senior Maceon McCracken’s single, and scored on Makayla Tipton’s single to center. Pisgah added two more runs in the sixth on a RBI ground out by Tomassi and on Hudson’s RBI single to center.